/ Register

  1. If this is your first time on BYC, we suggest you start with one of these three options:
    Raising Chickens Chicken Coops Join BYC
    If you're already a member of our community, click here to login & click here to learn what's new!

Can someone possibly answer this

Discussion in 'Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying' started by toetoe, Aug 31, 2009.

Most Liked Posts
Page 1 of 2
  1. Aug 31, 2009 #1
    toetoe

    toetoe Chillin' With My Peeps

    122
    2
    111
    Aug 3, 2009
    Ferndale
    I am very frustrated, I have a hen (Nugget)she is 11 months old I got her 2 months ago and 2 days after her being in my flock she started to give me eggs.
    [​IMG]

    She lays a med-large egg, light tan color.
    I got an egg 5-6 days a week from her.
    My hens are free range, I have 7 other hens. 2. hens right now have 6 each.. 3 week old chicks.

    This is my problem, 10 days after my 2 mommas went brooding I have not seen a egg from Nugget.

    1. At first I figured she was melancholy over the brooders.
    No.

    2. Then I figured she was stressed out for some reason.
    No all my other hens are laying.

    3. I was told she might be molting. For 4 weeks?
    No.

    4. Maybe she is laying out in the yard and we just can't find the eggs.
    Me and my husband spent 3 days of tag teem watching her and she never left our sights.

    She is a very quiet bird. She moves very slowly unless alarmed. She dose not... shell we say talk very much. She eats fine and drinks. Dirt baths and scratches for food.

    I have 3 Roosters and she will not let one mount her. But then they don't need to for her to lay a egg.

    She stands around all day . It looks like she is contemplating the meaning of life as a chicken.

    It has been 31 days now and nothing. Could I be missing something?

    Dose anyone have any idea of what it could be that she is not laying?
     
  3. Aug 31, 2009 #2
    FrenchHen

    FrenchHen Chicken Ambassador

    2,182
    5
    191
    Jan 26, 2009
    Bagshot Row
    Quote:That part was funny.
    My girls have taken the better part of the summer off. They didn't like the heat, molted, got hot again, and are now starting up again, though slowly.

    Good luck
     
  5. Aug 31, 2009 #3
    Eggs4Sale

    Eggs4Sale Chillin' With My Peeps

    4,122
    7
    211
    Jun 29, 2009
    I thought my girls were taking the summer off, too. Then I found two hidden nests, each used by two hens each. 17 eggs in one, 12 in the other.

    You might cage her and put her in the house for a day or two. Then you'll know for sure.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2009
  7. Aug 31, 2009 #4
    HorseFeatherz NV

    HorseFeatherz NV Eggink Chickens

    6,569
    22
    251
    May 12, 2009
    Sierra Foothills of Reno, NV
    Could she be having some kind of false broody? Her egg laying was triggered “off” but her nesting and “broodiness” just mis-fired?

    Don’t even know if that happens in chickens. [​IMG]
     
  9. Aug 31, 2009 #5
    Eggs4Sale

    Eggs4Sale Chillin' With My Peeps

    4,122
    7
    211
    Jun 29, 2009
    She doesn't sound broody, she looks like she has all of her lower breast feathers, and you never actually saw her sitting on eggs. Has she always stood there looking contemplative, ever since you got her?

    Some of my hens have stood there looking contemplative for a few days or even weeks before laying their first egg, but never a seasoned hen.

    Is it possible that she has eggs stuck inside of her?

    Does she get free choice to oyster shell and grit? Lay crumble?

    I'm wondering, because I've seen posts on here of strange things that have been laid, and looked like an organ. Upon further dissection, they proved to be an egg that was actually layers and layers of eggshells. So I'm thinking, if maybe she's not getting enough calcium, her eggshells are malformed and she can't lay them, so they stay in and the new eggs join the club, too.
    I don't know how those hens were doing, health-wise and behavior-wise, prior to laying their layered egg.

    Perhaps someone else has dealt with a contemplative, non-egg-laying hen....
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2009
  11. Aug 31, 2009 #6
    Judy

    Judy Moderator Staff Member

    34,028
    450
    448
    Feb 5, 2009
    South Georgia
    Well, taking 4 weeks off to molt is not odd at all -- unless she really isn't molting.

    I'm going to guess this is a delayed reaction to her move, and change in environment. It would not be odd at all for a hen to stop laying for a month after a move like this. Maybe it just took her a while to figure out there had been a major change.

    Good luck.
     
  13. Aug 31, 2009 #7
    BluegrassSeramas

    BluegrassSeramas Serama Savvy

    2,669
    9
    183
    Aug 25, 2008
    Central Kentucky
    We had a hen do this, found out later that she was kicking the broodies off their nests and laying under them. We didn't notice until we caught her and saw that the cochin had 7 extra eggs hidden under her fluffy butt. [​IMG]
     
  15. Aug 31, 2009 #8
    cmom

    cmom Hilltop Farm

    16,199
    642
    396
    Nov 18, 2007
    Florida
    My Coop
    Maybe she is going through a light molt. If she is there won't be a lot of feathers laying around. I have even seen some of my birds eat feathers.
     
  17. Aug 31, 2009 #9
    toetoe

    toetoe Chillin' With My Peeps

    122
    2
    111
    Aug 3, 2009
    Ferndale
    Is it possible that she has eggs stuck inside of her?

    Does she get free choice to oyster shell and grit? Lay crumble?

    *************************************************
    No I have checked for a egg inside, nothing.

    I give free choice of egg shell and oyster shell.

    I feed laying pellet.

    Was laying steady for the first 2 1/2 months. She was the first of three hens transfered here to start laying.

    All my other hens are laying every day and are steady as usuals.

    I have checked the brooders nests every day as well as the hen house for her eggs. I know each hens eggs and the shape and color. I have not seen one like she lays in a great long time.

    She never seems to leave my front yard. Is always in the open, never under any bushes or tall grass. We spy on her all day. We don't let her see us.

    My brooder hens have the chicks hatched and not sitting on nest until night time.

    I just can't figure her out.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2009
  19. Aug 31, 2009 #10
    Break an Egg

    Break an Egg Chillin' With My Peeps

    2,234
    11
    203
    Mar 17, 2008
    San Antonio
    I'm sorry I really don't have an answer, but I just wanted to say that she looks just like an EE that I recently lost to a stray dog. I'm so happy to see her pic. Thanks for sharing.
     
Page 1 of 2

BackYard Chickens is proudly sponsored by